Chapter 5: Creature in White Mist

A monstrous growl erupted, shattering the silence. Lars and Len were no longer quiet with their breaths. They were trapped in a room with unidentified, most likely dangerous creature waiting outside. Should that thing out there come inside, they knew they were doomed for. They cornered themselves by hiding there.

The door was moving. Something seemed to nudge it open, but there was nothing on the other side. Instead, there was a curtain of pure white mist that seeped in through the room. The mysterious mist was crawling across the room, unmistakably the same as previous night.

"Lars, what do we do?" Len whispered.

"I don't know, Len. I... I don't know."

Lars and Len knew that one mistake could cost their lives in this situation. One wrong move was all it takes. They looked at each other in a moment of silent understanding and nodded. They went for it.

The terrified twins took off in a scrambling run, disoriented and aimless amidst the world of pure white. Lars tightly grabbed on Len's hand as he trailed along the right side of the wall, trying to find the exit. In their panic, the hallways morphed into a labyrinth and Lars lost his entire sense of direction.

The mist was starting to look thicker and thicker, to the point Lars and Len felt like charging through clouds of cotton. Len was crying and reduced to a rambling mess but Lars shushed him quick. It wasn't meant to comfort him. He had heard something in the distance. It was a faint sound of clashing steel and occasional thumping on the walls, followed by loud crash of something breaking.

Lars and Len took a turn on an intersection when another loud crash was booming. It came from right in front of them, just fifty feet away. Another growl was unleashed, guttural and primal, filled with utter rage. Amidst the mist, a figure of monstrous creature emerged.

The creature walked on all fours, canine - like in posture but much bigger and towered over the cowering twins. It had claws that were curved and decidedly wicked as if the creature itself was designed for terror. The 'fur' all over its body were silver daggers, erected threateningly in ways porcupines do. One look at it and Lars knew that this creature was unnatural, an abomination.

However, what truly horrified Lars the most was the creature's face. It was completely point sharp, like a giant horn was placed where the snout is supposed to be. The monster opened its flat mouth for a long, rumbling growl that showcased a row of blades that thing had for its teeth. Its crimson slit eyes gleamed brighter as well.

Lars and Len were locked in a standstill with the creature. They were eyeing each other, but the creature succeeded on being much more intimidating. Lars knew that one leap from something of its size would be enough to end him and Len right then.

"L - Lars..."

"Stay c - calm, Len."

But he couldn't, none of them were. The monster seemed to smelled fear in the air and made its first move. It scraped its claws to the floor and its entire silver dagger fur vibrated, creating the familiar, most dreaded scraping sounds.

In moments such as these are when human's survival instinct kicked in. However, there are still a number of factors that could override such instinct despite how powerful it should be. One of these factors, selflessness, taken over Lars at that moment. He charged into the creature.

"Len, Run!"

He said no apologize nor goodbye before he took off. Lars ran straight to the monster, holding on to a sliver of hope that he could give enough time for Len to turn back and save himself. He let out a powerful cry that clashed with the growl of the monster.

Lars threw a cardboard box littered in the hallway and the monster instinctively clawed out. He took this chance to slip beside the monster and kept on running. He deduced that the monster couldn't quickly turn around in the hallway with its size and he was right. Although Lars didn't come unscathed as his left shoulder and abdomen were bleeding, scraped by the dagger fur when he slipped through the narrow space.

Lars went to another intersection, kicking things around like cardboard boxes and tried to make as much noise as possible. He could no longer see the intersection where he left Len but he was hoping the monster would focus on him and not chase his brother. Eventually, a pair of reddish slits gleamed in the white mist.

Knowing that the monster chased him and Len should be safe by then, Lars ran faster with resolve. He found an opening and went inside, hoping the monster couldn't come in. It was a quite spacious empty room, only decorated by Lars' dripping trail of blood. He sat in the corner, clutching the wound on the left side of his abdomen. Sweaty, injured, tired, but no longer terrified.

Even when the monster's eye peeked through from the opening, Lars didn't budge. He knew there was no other way and he accepted it. He was too hurt to run anymore, so he just sat there. He watched as the monster easily tore open the opening with its massive, sharp claws.

It did not take long for the monster to force its way through the plywood wall. Whatever that thing was, Lars knew that it could think, and it really did. There was something about its slow, studious gait that seemed like teasing Lars with all the suspense.

"Just get it over with," Lars said weakly.

And it did. The monster lunged at Lars and ended the chase right then. Lars was lying on the floor, covered in red as the monster feast upon him. As Lars' consciousness slipped away, his vision turned hazy with the mist looked like a viscous pulp that slowly fading in.

Lars was hanging by his last thread of consciousness, but then, he saw a light. A sound of glass breaking came before it, and the room was alight with orange. The whole room suddenly felt like sunset, warm and bright. A flicker of flame landed just before Lars' eyes. Nevertheless, his body was already too cold to feel the heat by then.

In the brink of Lars' awareness, he saw it in the shadow of the wall, a battle between the monster and someone wielding a spear. It was only a fleeting moment since the light quickly disappeared, leaving him alone and in tremendous amount of pain.

In his final moments, Lars thought of Len and how Len would fare being alone after he's gone. There are so many things he still wanted to do for his dearest brother, things he wanted to see and dreamed of doing. But alas, none of that matters anymore as Lars' life ended that night.